I Listen So You Don't Have To: Cheap Heat Oct. 2

No one likes JBL on commentary Photo Credit: WWE.com

If you're new, here's the rundown: I listen to a handful of wrestling podcasts each week. Too many, probably, though certainly not all of them. In the interest of saving you time — in case you have the restraint to skip certain episodes — the plan is to give the bare bones of a given show and let you decide if it’s worth investing the time to hear the whole thing. There are better wrestling podcasts out there, of course, but these are the ones in my regular rotation that I feel best fit the category of hit or miss. If I can save other folks some time, I'm happy to do so.

Show: Cheap Heat
Episode: Oct. 2, 2014
Run Time: 1:09:41
Guest: None

Summary: The guys break down the Sept. 29 RAW, with main focus on the ascendance of Dean Ambrose, the Luke Harper videos, the Intercontinental Title three-way, Mark Henry and Bo Dallas, and the Big Show-Rusev flag desecration story before taking a few listener emails.

Quote of the week: Rosenberg: “Let me tell you something about JBL. Loved him as a wrestler. Respect him as a human being. His commentary is what they call in the wrestling business the S-H-I-T-S.”

Shoemaker:“The drizzling sort.”

Why you should listen: If you need a weekly dose of Shoemaker, it was audio only as October dawned. Also, Rosenberg turned down the heel act for most of this episode and seems to be coming around on Dean Ambrose. There was plenty of chatter about shaping the future WWE narrative, so if you’re thirst for RAW analysis, this is a decent well from which to drink. Also, ragging on JBL always scores points with me.

Why you should skip it: Well… there’s still not much there there. By discussing RAW almost exclusively, but without covering anything beyond their own conjecture, the guys don’t really deliver a lot of mental fodder for anyone who watched the show. As in, their conversations are probably things you discussed with your Twitter friends or perhaps even in real life. Not a lot of extra thinking results from listening to the full show.

Final thoughts: It wasn’t an outright bad episode, but it’s not a must-listen either. Cheap Heat continues to struggle for relevance outside of the shows following WWE supercards. Of course, RAW struggles to be interesting in those weeks as well. But only one show has the flexibility to be innovative and deliver a compelling product to its audience. Here’s hoping for a great guest interview or an interesting untimely topic next week.